SEVEN POUNDS — ** — Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson; rated PG-13 (violence, sex, profanity, gore, brief drugs, slurs, vulgarity)
In its own peculiar way, "Seven Pounds" is as contrived and manipulative as your average Nicholas Sparks tale.
The difference between the usually treacly Sparks novels (and the movie versions of his books) and this rather mysterious drama is ambition and scope. The former have few ambitions, aside from jerking tears from their readers and audiences. This film, however, wants to make its viewers think about redemption, mortality and other heady concepts.
And if anything, that makes this Will Smith vehicle more disappointing, especially since it re-teams him with Gabriele Muccino, the Italian filmmaker who crafted his 2006 hit, "The Pursuit of Happyness."
This film fails to live up to its predecessors' standards, unfortunately. It's a solid misfire with only a few really engaging moments.
Smith stars as Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who's taken it upon himself to offer kindnesses to a handful of strangers. All the while, he is determined to keep his distance from those people, and to remain emotionally passive and restrained.
Those strangers include Ezra Turner (Woody Harrelson), a blind telemarketer, and Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carrillo), an abused mother of two.
But there are complications with his plan to help out Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson). The financially struggling printmaker also has a chronic heart problem. While assessing her "case," Ben befriends Emily, who begins to develop some strong feelings for the aloof tax man.
That's all that can be said about the plot without spoiling several surprises. Suffice to say that screenwriter Grant Nieporte has his roots in television sitcoms (he worked on both "8 Simple Rules" and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"), and his script is filled with false notes and other hollow sentiments. And the resolution of the main mystery — Ben is concealing several secrets about himself, in particular, his tragic past — is unsatisfying and feels rushed.
So, perhaps it's no wonder that Smith's performance seems a little half-hearted. The only time there's any warmth comes during the scenes that feature him with Dawson. You almost wish they had stripped out the other story elements and concentrated on this subplot instead. It's not particularly fresh, but at least it's more appealing than the rest of this otherwise messy and ultimately disappointing melodrama.
"Seven Pounds" is rated PG-13 and features some brief, but strong violent content (glimpses of a deadly auto accident, a violent tantrum and a jellyfish attack), a brief sex scene (fairly discreet by most standards), scattered strong profanity, some brief bloody imagery (including some hospital gore), brief drug references and content (medications and various pharmaceuticals), derogatory slurs and language (some of them based on disabilities), and some suggestive references. Running time: 120 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com